Barbara Kingsolver

June 04, 2013

Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel, Flight Behavior, is now in paperback!
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post and USA Today,
Flight Behavior is the story of a
young woman living in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot
explain, and how her discovery changes her perspective on the world around her.
The New York Times Book Review called
the book “a majestic and brave new novel…both intimate and enormous."

Dellarobia Turnbow is
a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became
pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing
farm, she seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger
man.

She hikes up a
mountain road behind her house toward a secret tryst, but instead encounters a
shocking sight: a silent, forested valley filled with what looks like a lake of
fire. She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft
of other explanations from scientists, religious leaders, and the media. The
bewildering emergency draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with
urbane journalists, opportunists, sightseers, and a striking biologist with his
own stake in the outcome.

As
the community lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts
her family, her
church, her town, and a larger world, in a flight toward truth
that could undo all she has ever believed

April 12, 2013

Right now but only until 4/16, you can nab some great reads for $1.99 from 13 book club favorite authors like Barbara Kingsolver, Isabel Allende, and Katrina Kittle:

“The work of a
visionary. . . . It leaves you open-mouthed and smiling.” —Los Angeles
Times

“A lively first novel...an easy book to enjoy.” —The New
Yorker

Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and
friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

“Allende is a master storyteller at the peak of her powers.” —Los Angeles Times

Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue—the daughter of an African mother she never knew and a white sailor who brought her into bondage—Zarité, known as Tété, survives a childhood of brutality and fear, finding solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in her exhilarating initiation into the mysteries of voodoo.

When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, he discovers that running his father's plantation is neither glamorous nor easy.
Marriage also proves problematic when, eight years later, he brings home a bride. But it is his teenaged slave, Tété, upon whom Valmorain becomes most dependent, as their lives intertwine across four tumultuous decades.

“[A] beautifully crafted novel….A must-read not only for animal lovers, but for anyone who has found the courage to come back from heartbreak and find love again, without reservation, without fear.”—Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants

From Katrina Kittle, critically acclaimed author of The Kindness of Strangers, comes a wry and moving story of forgiveness, flexibility, happiness, and the art of moving on.

Veterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough patch. Stymied by her recent divorce, she wonders if there are secret ingredients to a happy, long-lasting marriage or if the entire institution is outdated and obsolete. Couples all around her are approaching important milestones. Her parents are preparing to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. Her brother and his partner find their marriage dreams legally blocked. Her former sister-in-law—still her best friend—is newly engaged. The youthfully exuberant romance of her teenage daughter is developing
complications. And three separate men—including her ex-husband—are becoming entangled in Cami's messy post-marital love life.

But as she struggles to come to terms with her own doubts amid this chaotic circus of relationships, Cami finds strange comfort in an unexpected confidant: an angry, unpredictable horse in her care. With the help of her equine soul mate, she begins to make sense of marriage's great mysteries—and its disconnects.

June 09, 2010

Congratulations to Barbara Kingsolver who today won the Orange Prize for her novel The Lacuna! The award, which recognizes the work of fiction written by women from around the world, is now in its 15th year. Daisy Goodwin, of the chair of judges said that they chose The Lacuna "because it is a book of breathtaking scale and shattering moments of poignancy."

In The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities. Browse inside The Lacuna now.

July 18, 2008

As many of you know, from your fabulous response to my hosting stress-out, I hosted my book group this week. Thank you all for the food and drink suggestions you sent in, they inspired me to serve the following: a large punch bowl of lemonade (Country Time, but tricked out with lemon slices and spearmint leaves so it looked like I'd been slaving all day squeezing lemons); Prosecco, naan bread with hummus; olives and cheese sticks, cheese and crackers; a fruit salad of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries; ginger cookies and lemon cake. I believe everyone was pleased with the nosh.

We had a great discussion of Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, which all of us really liked and the fact that it was stories didn't slow us down as I had feared.(For more on how to discuss short stories, read this thoughtful piece from short story author Christopher Meeks over on the blog SheisTooFondofBooks). We remarked on how Lahiri's stories and depictions of human interaction reflect such universal feelings and relationships. While she's writing specifically about Indians and their immigration experience, when it comes down to each story, all of us found so much to identify with. We have some members who are not native to the US and it's always so interesting to hear their reaction to stories like Lahiri's about people who move to America and keep so much of their cultural identity and traditions intact.

The winner was The Septembers of Shiraz and I'm so excited to read Sofer's debut novel set in Iran after the revolution. You may recall that there's an online discussion of Shiraz going on right now at EverydayIWritetheBook so we'll be sure to check out those comments as well before we meet in August.

June 26, 2008

Here's a pretty amazing contest -- enter to win a whole year's worth of books for your entire book group! That's books for every month of the year for every member of your book group -- with book club favorites from Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, Gregory Maguire, Paulo Coelho, Michael Chabon, Lionel Shriver, Joyce Carol Oates, Debra Dean, Thrity Umrigar, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Louise Erdrich and Zora Neale Hurston! Enter here and encourage all the members in your reading group to do the same!

June 01, 2008

As the presidential race gets closer to being between two, and not three, candidates, the New York Times asked a series of writers to recommend reading for Clinton, McCain and Obama. There are some great suggestions in this list. Lorrie Moore suggests Portrait of a Lady for Obama. Barbara Kingsolver advises a reading of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek for all three candidates and John Edgar Wideman would like McCain to read The Little Prince. Read the full article, it's one not to be missed.

April 21, 2008

In honor of Earth Day today, I'm welcoming tips on how you can make a difference in your home or life to help the earth. I'll do a random drawing of the tips received in comments and award two lucky winners an Ecojot journal made of 100% recycled paper, plus the paperback of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which goes on sale on in one week!

And here's my tip directed specifically to book groups -- next time you pick your book, rather than buying new copies, why not check your books out of the library -- library books are the ultimate in earth-conscious reading as they are shared over and over again. And many libraries offer "book club kits" where multiples of the same book are packaged together with a reading group guide and other supplemental reading.

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Who is Book Club Girl?

Book Club Girl is: a member of a book club and an avid reader who spent most of her childhood immersed in a book, an English major who considered library school until she realized it was all about computers, so turned to publishing, where she now works (but she vows to talk about books from all over and not to simply flog those from her own house). She was single, lived in the city, met a man, moved to the 'burbs, and is now a wife, a stepmother, a mother, and in her spare time, a fledgling blogger dedicated to sharing great books, news and tips with book club girls everywhere.

My Review Policy

I review fiction and nonfiction that is appropriate for book clubs. This includes literary and some women's commercial fiction as well as memoir and narrative nonfiction. I do not review self-help, thrillers, mysteries, horror, or fantasy. I have a fondness for YA literature and while the blog is not devoted to it (well, except for my obsession with the Betsy-Tacy series), I will occasionally review some YA books. The best way to reach me to request a review is to email me at bookclubgirl AT gmail DOT com.